Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest man and CEO of Amazon, announced on Monday that he is giving $10 billion to fight climate change.
Through a post on Instagram, Jeff let the world know that he would start the Bezos Earth Fund to fight climate change. He hopes that he would give out the grants beginning this summer.
His pledge accounts for about 7.7% of his wealth, with an estimated net worth of nearly $130 billion.
In January, more than 350 employees in Amazon had signed a Medium blog demanding for net-zero emissions by 2030. The Amazon employees’ push for the company to do more about climate change finally led to the move.
Jeff had announced in September the company’s pledge to get the Amazon 100% renewable energy by 2030, 100,000 electric delivery vehicles by 2030, and carbon neutral by 2040.
Jeff was the only rich man among the top 5 rich men in the world who hasn’t signed the Giving Pledge to give away at least half of their wealth. MacKenzie Bezos
, his ex-wife, signed the pledge in May.Jeff wants to work alongside others both to explore new ways and amplify existing ways to fight the disastrous impact of climate change on earth. Jeff’s new global initiative will fund activists, NGOs, and scientists who offer any effort to help protect and preserve the natural world. The initiative will take collective action from individuals, global organizations, states, nations, small companies, and big companies.
Jeff has committed $10 billion to begin this initiative, and it will start issuing the grants from this summer.
Amazon employees responded to the Instagram post through a tweet. They applauded Jeff for the efforts he took, but also mentioned that despite the “go carbon neutral by 2040” pledge, Amazon is still relying on fuel-burning vehicles for delivery and is funding groups that deny climate change.
